Remember in school when the teacher would announce that you would be reading some giant novel like Moby Dick and the whole room would grown? I do. I also remember the feeling of complete relief when we told that we would also watch the movie in class over a period of days. Who needs Herman Melville when you’ve got Gregory Peck?
The most important thing about this little skip down memory lane is not the groaning itself, but the reason behind it. We groaned at the thought of spending hours upon hours staring at pages and pages of printed, word-filled paragraphs. No pictures. No sound. No Gregory Peck.
While learning to read novels and imagine the action in your head is an important skill to learn, we’re not in school anymore. That means that we don’t get credit for the time we spend reading. In fact, we usually have to steal that time away from something else like work or laundry.
This is why it is essential to understand how to format your blog posts. Using shorter paragraphs, headings, bullet points, quotes, and bold or italicized text will help help people to read your content more quickly and efficiently. It’s also helpful to use images where appropriate and pay attention to the amount of white space on your page. These elements are islands that break up the sea of endless words.
DISCLAIMER: This is for all of my readers who are English Teachers (especially if you were my English Teachers). I am about to break quite a few writing rules and advocate that others do the same. It isn’t because I don’t love you or appreciate all of your hard work. It’s simply because people don’t read web content the same way they read print materials, and the goal of this article is to help my readers make money – not to please the MLA.
At A Glance
Your blog readers need to be able to glance at your post and quickly understand the basic meaning of it. If you clue them in when they skim, they’re more likely to bookmark you and come back to read your content later if they’re short on time. That’s the main difference between blog reading and book reading. The goal is to get lost in a book and spend time escaping the realities of life. The goal when reading blogs is to get through the post and get on to the realities of life.
Things that will make your articles more skimmable
1) White Space on the Page – White Space helps the reader not to feel intimidated by the length of your writing. It also allows the eyes to quickly search and identify the major sections of the post. Things that create white space are:
- Justifying your paragraphs to the left instead of indenting and adding a space in between
- Using block quotes
- Including images
- Using bullet points and numbered lists
- Headings to identify major sections of content
2) Visual Landmarks – Crossing a wide river is intimidating when you see nothing but water. However, when you can hop from island to island it’s not so impossible. Islands in your river of text are:
- Bold phrases
- Italic phrases
- Phrases in a different color
- Charts, Graphs, Statistics
- Pictures, Drawings, and Symbols
- Sections of text with a color behind them
3) Bite-Sized Chunks – How do you eat an elephant? That’s right, one bite at a time. This is why blog posts are broken into what I cll bite-sized chunks. Things that help you do this are:
- Short paragraphs (no more than 4 lines)
- Infographics
- Dialogue
- Icons
- Video
Rules For Formatting
1) Never have more than 3 paragraphs without something highlighted, bolded, or italicized. If you’ve written that much without including a major that your reader needs to know, you have too much fluff in your article and you need to edit it down.
2) Your reader should be able to understand your main idea by reading only the highlighted portions of your article. Because they will and you need to make that count.
3) Headlines and headings should be brief and descriptive of what comes next. These are the most significant landmarks you’ll use. It’s OK if they’re clever or funny. Just be sure that they help tell the story.
4) Images should have captions that not only identify them, but also connect them to the article. People skimming your article don’t care if the old guy in the photo is your Uncle Herman, but they do care if Uncle Herman is doing something that illustrates your point.
5) Videos, Infographics, and Images should enhance your article – not be your article. Their purpose is to make the article more readable. Additional elements are great, but you still have to say something.
6) Use Block Quote style when quoting other sources like books, movies, or other articles. It draws attention to your quote and give the reader’s brain a break at the same time.
7) Always try to have an image at the top of the your post that is descriptive of your article. People will often choose whether or not to read your content based on the image you use.
8) Always preview your post before making it live on your site. This gives you a chance to see it as your audience will and fix any formatting issues.
9) Read your post out loud to someone. It’s not only a great way to proof it for mistakes, but hearing it outside of your head will often help you decide how to break paragraphs and sections.
10) Share it with a 5th or 6th grader. If they understand your message, chances are that time-pressed adults will too.
So that’s how you get more people to read your killer content more often. After all, it really doesn’t matter how good your stuff is if people are too intimidated or pressed for time to read it.
By the way: You see this post with all of the formatting removed below. Check it out and see what a difference some of these tips really make.
What formatting techniques do you use to help people read your content more easily? Share a comment and let’s talk about it.
The Unformatted Version
Remember in school when the teacher would announce that you would be reading some giant novel like Moby Dick and the whole room would grown? I do. I also remember the feeling of complete relief when we told that we would also watch the movie in class over a period of days. Who needs Herman Melville when you’ve got Gregory Peck? The most important thing about this little skip down memory lane is not the groaning itself, but the reason behind it. We groaned at the thought of spending hours upon hours staring at pages and pages of printed, word-filled paragraphs. No pictures. No sound. No Gregory Peck.
While learning to read novels and imagine the action in your head is an important skill to learn, we’re not in school anymore. That means that we don’t get credit for the time we spend reading. In fact, we usually have to steal that time away from something else like work or laundry. This is why it is essential to understand how to format your blog posts. Using shorter paragraphs, headings, bullet points, quotes, and bold or italicized text will help help people to read your content more quickly and efficiently. It’s also helpful to use images where appropriate and pay attention to the amount of white space on your page. These elements are islands that break up the sea of endless words.
Disclaimer: This is for all of my readers who are English Teachers (especially if you were my English Teachers). I am about to break quite a few writing rules and advocate that others do the same. It isn’t because I don’t love you or appreciate all of your hard work. It’s simply because people don’t read web content the same way they read print materials, and the goal of this article is to help my readers make money – not to please the MLA.
Your blog readers need to be able to glance at your post and quickly understand the basic meaning of it. If you clue them in when they skim, they’re more likely to bookmark you and come back to read your content later if they’re short on time. That’s the main difference between blog reading and book reading. The goal is to get lost in a book and spend time escaping the realities of life. The goal when reading blogs is to get through the post and get on to the realities of life.
Here are some things that will make your articles more skimmable. White Space helps the reader not to feel intimidated by the length of your writing. It also allows the eyes to quickly search and identify the major sections of the post. Things that create white space are justifying your paragraphs to the left instead of indenting and adding a space in between, using block quotes, including images, using bullet points and numbered lists, headings to identify major sections of content. Crossing a wide river is intimidating when you see nothing but water. However, when you can hop from island to island it’s not so impossible. Islands in your river of text are bold phrases, italic phrases, phrases in a different color, charts, graphs, statistics, pictures, drawings, and symbols, sections of text with a color behind them. How do you eat an elephant? That’s right, one bite at a time. This is why blog posts are broken into what I cll bite-sized chunks. Things that help you do this are, short paragraphs (no more than 4 lines), infographics, dialogue, icons, video.
Here are some rules For Formatting. Never have more than 3 paragraphs without something highlighted, bolded, or italicized. If you’ve written that much without including a major that your reader needs to know, you have too much fluff in your article and you need to edit it down. Your reader should be able to understand your main idea by reading only the highlighted portions of your article. Because they will and you need to make that count. Headlines and headings should be brief and descriptive of what comes next. These are the most significant landmarks you’ll use. It’s OK if they’re clever or funny. Just be sure that they help tell the story. Images should have captions that not only identify them, but also connect them to the article. People skimming your article don’t care if the old guy in the photo is your Uncle Herman, but they do care if Uncle Herman is doing something that illustrates your point. Videos, Infographics, and Images should enhance your article – not be your article. Their purpose is to make the article more readable. Additional elements are great, but you still have to say something. Use Block Quote style when quoting other sources like books, movies, or other articles. It draws attention to your quote and give the reader’s brain a break at the same time. Always try to have an image at the top of the your post that is descriptive of your article. People will often choose whether or not to read your content based on the image you use. Always preview your post before making it live on your site. This gives you a chance to see it as your audience will and fix any formatting issues. Read your post out loud to someone. It’s not only a great way to proof it for mistakes, but hearing it outside of your head will often help you decide how to break paragraphs and sections. Share it with a 5th or 6th grader. If they understand your message, chances are that time-pressed adults will too.